As every day passes, it becomes increasingly apparent how much negotiating with the mullahs is a waste of time and that the only solution that guarantees the well-being of the Iranian people themselves and the security of Israel, America, Europe, and the West is regime change.
Simply put, you cannot negotiate with a government that is willing to massacre its own people to survive, that chants “death to America” and “death to Israel,” and that dreams of becoming shahids in the afterlife more than the well-being of its people.
You cannot negotiate reasonably with a regime that values Hezbollah in Lebanon more than the economic well-being of its citizens. You cannot negotiate with a regime that does not respect women’s rights, gay rights, minority rights, and other basic human rights.
After all, if a regime does not value the well-being of its own people, how can it be expected to care about the well-being of Americans, Israelis, Europeans, and others in the West?
Indeed, the raison d’être of the Iranian regime is vilayet-e-Faghih, the rule of Islamic jurisprudence. Under such a system, it does not hesitate to execute rape victims, stone people to death, or even sell the hair of political dissidents at a marketable value abroad.
No deal will be able to alter any of this horrific behavior.
The Islamic Republic of Iran cannot exist anymore because the regime is not willing to change its attitudes and objectives and thus to change from within. Iran is a multi-ethnic country, and all of the ethnic groups need to have their freedom.
The country’s entire population is hoping that the West will help them to overthrow the government so they can have a better relationship with the world for the sake of their future.
The regime cannot be reformed. It has to go. There is no other solution.
Any hope that the regime will act according to agreements is a mistake. This regime will only try to buy time so that it can do damage to its neighbors and the US and Western interests at a later date.
This regime is not going to be a friend of anyone the West wished for.
South Azerbaijani dissident Aslan Sultan noted that now is certainly the time to topple this regime, as the mullahs in Tehran have never been weaker:
“After 47 years of brutal and tyrannic ruling in Iran, the Islamic regime is in its weakest and most vulnerable situation after last year’s 12-day battle with Israel and also the 44-day joint war with the US and Israel.
“This is a regime with a deceased supreme leader and a successor who is probably hiding himself underground, frightened and heavily injured or even dead, according to some rumors.”
Sultan emphasized that the regime has long ago lost legitimacy in the eyes of the Iranian people and that they are yearning for liberation.
Sadig Isabeyli, head of the Savalan Research Centre and member of the Board of Directors of the South Azerbaijan National Liberation Front, added:
“In the current geopolitics of the Middle East, the Islamic Republic of Iran should be viewed not as a traditional, natural historical model of statehood but as a terrorist state seeking to establish a regional power system built on ideological foundations and networked terror mechanisms.
“The mullah regime that came to power after the 1979 Islamic Revolution did not limit its activities within state borders; on the contrary, it sought to develop a trans-regional strategy of ideological influence based on the principle of ‘exporting the revolution.’”
According to Isabeyli, “This strategy is implemented through religious-ideological narratives, proxy forces, security apparatuses, information manipulation, and other regional threat networks.
“Therefore, in many cases, Tehran manages military conflicts in geopolitical processes not directly under its own name but through networked terrorist groups it has created at the level of regional threat and is able to gain advantages and concessions by influencing various countries.
“For example, through Hezbollah in Lebanon, Shi’ite militias in Iraq, Houthis in Yemen, and terrorist groups it has established under various names in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and a number of African countries, it aims to undermine the national security architecture of these states and create an environment of long-term instability in them.”
The regional security implications of Tehran’s strategy
For this reason, Washington, DC, must understand that the Iranian threat extends far beyond its nuclear program and its ballistic missile program.
Iran essentially had created a Shi’ite Crescent that spread its tentacles across the Middle East region and beyond, posing a grave threat to the security of Israel, America, Europe, and the entire free world.
What is happening with the Strait of Hormuz and the attacks on the Arab Gulf countries is just the tip of the iceberg regarding the Iranian threat.
Indeed, solving the Iranian issue requires much more than just transporting their nuclear material to the United States or another third country. It requires the full dismantlement of the regime. And now, we have the golden opportunity to pursue regime change.
The writer is the CEO of the Dona Gracia Center for Diplomacy and an Israel-based journalist. She is the author of Women and Jihad: Debating Palestinian Female Suicide Bombings in the American, Israeli, and Arab Media.
